Page 449 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

410 NAKAB EL HAJAR. [CH.

depredations committed on the property of

each other. The Abd is answerable for all

thefts occurring within his own district, and

he makes restitution to the injured party,
provided the offender be unable to do so. If,

on the contrary, the thief has property, the

Abb claims for himself a third, in addition to

the value of the stolen property, as a further

punishment, and compensation for the fre­
quent losses he would otherwise be subjected

to. The Diyabis have few spears, and no

swords; their arms are a jambir, a match­

lock, and a shield : they are otherwise dis­

tinguished amidst the neighbouring tribes by

the scantiness of their waist-cloths, and for

the reputed levity and inconstancy of their
females.

Thursday, April 30th. The Bedowins called

us at an early hour, and after partaking of

some coffee which they had prepared, we

shook the sand (in which during the night we

had been nearly buried) from our clothes, and

at five a.m. at a slow pace again proceeded on

our journey.
At seven hours we ascended a ledge about

four hundred feet in elevation, from the sum­